Africa-Press – South-Africa. South Africa’s three United Rugby Championship (URC) quarterfinalists face their biggest task of the season as they line up against top opposition this weekend.
The Stormers arguably face the toughest task of them all as they travel to Scotland to face the defending champions, Glasgow Warriors, on Friday. The Bulls and Sharks will have the luxury of home ground advantage against Edinburgh in Pretoria and Munster in Durban.
With the playoff stages wrapped up, there will be no room for error as all three teams eye semifinal places.
The Bulls, runners up in 2022 and 2024, will secure themselves a home semifinal if they emerge victorious, which will fuel their motivation immensely as they cast an eye further ahead as they attempt to reach the Grand Final for the second season in a row.
The Stormers will have unfinished business in their clash against the Warriors after suffering a defeat against them at Cape Town Stadium in the league stages — their third straight loss against the Scottish team, with the Cape side having last managed to win this encounter in 2022.
That the Stormers have won their last four URC games in a row will bolster their confidence, while Glasgow have lost their last three matches and will certainly look to bounce back.
The Warriors will draw inspiration from winning seven out of nine of their home matches this season, but the Stormers will draw comfort that three of those victories were by three points or fewer.
Glasgow have only won one more match than the Stormers this season, but the South Africans boast a better attacking record, with 39 more points scored than the opposition in their 18 pool matches. Glasgow have the second-best defensive record, with 17 fewer tries conceded than their opponents.
However, history has proven that anything can happen in playoff matches and the team that makes the most of its opportunities can emerge victorious.
The matchup between the Bulls and Edinburgh is expected to be hugely competitive, given the close contest between the sides earlier in the season where the Pretoria outfit emerged 22-16 victors at home in the second round. The Scots turned the tables with a 34-28 win in the EPCR Challenge Cup quarterfinal.
With seven straight URC victories to their name and the team having suffered only four defeats this season, the Bulls enter the clash as favourites. However, they will be wary of underestimating Edinburgh, who, added to knocking the Bulls out of the Challenge Cup, have had a fair run of form too, losing only one of their last five matches, with one a draw.
In fact, their only defeat among those was against the Sharks in Durban by one point. However, Edinburgh will have to enter the match strong-willed to break their disappointing away record, which shows six defeats in nine outings.
In stark contrast, the Bulls have suffered only one home defeat in the competition this season. The Pretoria team have won six more games than the Scots in the pool stages and have a better record on attack and defence.
At Kings Park, the Sharks will have to lift their quality immensely to come away with a victory and book their first URC semifinal berth when they line up against 2023 champions Munster. This despite the Irish giants having finished the pool stages three places below the Durban side in sixth place.
With the Sharks occupying third place and having suffered only one defeat at home this season, many would have punted them as outright favourites. However, they struggled to a 12-3 victory against the Scarlets two weeks ago and were under pressure to deliver a strong second-half performance against Ospreys a week earlier after entering the break 10-3 up.
The Sharks will be mindful that Munster have been marginally more effective on attack, though the Durbanites have been better on defence, which will set the scene for a gripping encounter.
URC quarterfinals
SA times
Friday:
Glasgow Warriors v Stormers, Scotstoun Stadium, Glasgow (8.35pm)
Saturday:
Bulls v Edinburgh, Loftus Versfeld (1.30pm)
Leinster v Llanelli Scarlets, Lansdowne Road (4pm)
Sharks v Munster, Kings Park (6.30pm)
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